So why do all these organizations use CMMI?
What are the actual benefits of implementing a programme of continuous process improvement through using the CMMI? Again, the CMMI Performance Report provides some important insights.
Fundamentally, this report is based around the performance objective data that is collected as part of all performed appraisals. As part of appraisal planning, organizations are expected to identify specific improvement objectives. These are measured before the improvement work has been carried out and then after the appraisal has been performed to see what (if any) improvement has been achieved.
The Performance Report looks at the aggregated before and after performance metrics to identify trends in terms of achieved benefits through applying the CMMI and the results make fascinating reading. Obviously, there is considerable variation in achieved improvements but the mean improvements worldwide make for some compelling evidence.
The Performance Report contains a lot of detail about these improvements, but the main headlines suggest impressive results are certainly possible:
Obviously, such improvements are not guaranteed, but the figures shown here are the mean across the set of reported objectives. Over the period covered by the report (2019 – 2024), 67,000 objectives from nearly 20,000 appraisals were reported, so there is a sizable weight of evidence behind these figures.
The report goes into a lot more detail about the achieved ranges for each improvement category, so you can get a more rounded view asa to the expected improvement that you might potentially realise through using the CMMI.
It is of course worth pointing out that CMMI is a process improvement tool and like any other tool, if used inappropriately, the chances of a successful outcome drop off dramatically. However using it appropriately can yield significant returns.
